State begins to help Golden Guernsey workers

The state Department of Workforce Development is stepping in and meeting with the laid-off Golden Guernsey employees to help get them back to work or to train them for other careers.

Workers arrived at a meeting held by the department in Pewaukee with questions, concerns and uncertainty.

"Find something I can pay the bills, keep a roof over me and my wife's head," former worker Jake Weber said.

Weber, along with more than 100 co-workers, found himself out of a job when the Waukesha dairy plant suddenly closed its doors.

"It's been 10 days of doing nothing but search for jobs and try to figure things out," Weber said.

Wednesday morning, Workforce Development rolled out its rapid response services to help employees get back on track -- things such as unemployment options, health insurance, career planning and job training services.

"We can provide almost any type of service for them to get a job, to make them more marketable," DWD spokesman Francisco Sanchez said.

For many of the workers, their job at Golden Guernsey was all they ever knew, but now some are open to the possibility of starting a new career.

Kyle Dingleton logged 14 years with the company and he's not looking back.

"I think I'm going to take this opportunity to really review what I know and what I can learn and what my potential is, and try to find a challenge, instead of just settling for something," Singleton said.